Betting on the lord: Lotteries and religiosity in Haiti

Abstract

We conducted an experimental study in Haiti testing for the relationship between religious belief and individual risk taking behavior. 774 subjects played lotteries in a standard neutral protocol and subsequently with reduced endowments but in the presence of religious images of Catholic, Protestant and Voodoo tradition. Subjects chose between paying to play a lottery with an image of their choice, and saving their money to play with no image. Those who chose the former are defined as image buyers and those who chose the latter as non-buyers. Image buyers, who tend to be less educated, more rural, and to exhibit greater religiosity, bet more than non-buyers in all games. In addition, in the presence of religious images all participants took more risk, and buyers took more risk when playing in the presence of their chosen images than when playing with other images. We develop a theoretical model calibrated with our experimental data to explore the channels through which religious images might affect risk-taking. Our results suggest that the presence of images tends to increase individuals' subjective probability of winning the lottery, and that subjects therefore believe in a god who intervenes actively in the world in response to their requests.

Positive fortune telling enhances men’s financial risk taking

“…Additionally, superstitious beliefs were found to be correlated with gambling intensity among EGM (electronic gaming machine) gamblers [ 47 ]. A recent study [ 48 ] also suggests that the presence of religious images tends to increase individuals’ subjective probability of winning the lottery, and that subjects therefore believe in a god who intervenes actively in the world in response to their requests.…”

Did Elijah Muhammad's Message To the Black Man Uplift Adherents? The Treatment Effects of Membership In The Nation of Islam

“…Lastly, there is evidence that religion and religiosity can condition preferences, which, theoretically, is the primitive source of individual behavior and economic outcomes. Religion and religiosity have been found to induce preferences that promote economic growth and high per-capita income (Guiso et al, 2003), enhance contribution to public goods (Benjamin et al, 2016), enhance delayed gratification by inducing more forward-looking behavior (Calluso et al, 2020), and condition attitudes toward risk (Auriol et al ., 2019). In this context, our treatment effect parameter estimates will inform the extent to which the NOI as a religion and form of religiosity has an effect on adherent preferences that impacts several outcomes that are measures of individual wellbeing.…”

Le religieux et le développement : négociations politiques des convictions morales

“…Bridging the Sacred and the Secular, Basingstoke, New York, Palgrave Macmillan, 2008, p. 17-45. 7 À la suite de Philip Fountain, Ben Jones et Marie Juul Petersen, nous faisons ici référence à la formule de comme des intermédiaires favorisant les échanges économiques et sociaux tandis que leur appartenance religieuse est pensée comme un facilitateur d'accès tant à des biens et services spécifiques 13 qu'à des individus 14 . Ces représentations utilitaristes sont concomitantes à celles que promeuvent les bailleurs de fonds.…”